'True Detective' season 2 scoop: Trio of leads, California setting

Nic Pizzolatto is confirming some of the rumors about True Detective season 2 that have been quietly circulating in recent weeks. In an podcast with To the Best of Our Knowledge, the True Detective creator gave some scoop on the show, revealing that its second season – which still has not been officially announced – is probably going to have three leads. They’ll be all-new characters, “but I’m deeply in love with each of them,” he says. (We’re hearing, unconfirmed, the characters are two men and a woman.)

Pizzolatto also says the season will be set in California: “Not Los Angeles, but some of the much lesser-known venues of California. And we’re going to try to capture a certain psycho-sphere ambiance of the place, much like we did in season one.” (We’re hearing, unconfirmed, that it’s mainly set in the present day, and that Northern California plays a key role.)

In addition, we’ve heard – again, unconfirmed – that season 2 is expected to consist of another eight epiosdes, with Pizzolatto writing each. But while Cary Fukunaga directed every hour of season 1, we’re hearing that the second season will likely have different directors for each episode.

As for casting, the rumor mill has been in full swing – and we’ve heard that some huge A-list names have been under consideration (not just Jessica Chastain, who denied being cast on the show after her name was posted in the media without a deal). Pizzolatto says casting should begin in earnest in the next few weeks.

So what about True Detective is staying the same? The creator gives the sense the show’s downbeat feel will remain intact: ”It’s a story that uses the popular genre of police investigation to conduct a more nuanced metaphysical investigation of its characters and their world,” he says. “In True Detective, the world itself is the crime…This corruption at the root of the world. The poison at the root of the world is humanity.”

So, yes, it’ll still be a bit of downer – if a very thoughtful one. Hearing Pizzalatto in this interview, you often sense the voice of Rust Cohle, who played an enormous role in makingTrue Detective season 1 so compelling and unique. If that character was a stand-in of sorts for Pizzalatto’s ideas, can such thoughts be put into another new character without seeming too … Cole-esque? Either way, we can’t wait to see.